Problems, Predicaments, and Technology

  Recently I wrote this in one of the groups I manage after reading several comments from members who clearly did not understand the facts behind several of my posts, quote: " I think it is important to point out why promoting technology is NOT a good thing. First of all, technological devices DO NOT reduce emissions, period. They RAISE emissions. For those who do not understand this, please look up Jevons Paradox [Tim Garrett explains Jevons Paradox and Civilizational Inertia here] . Secondly, one cannot help reduce the effects of climate change without reducing the effects of ecological overshoot. Ecological overshoot is CAUSED by technology use. More technology use = more ecological overshoot, and since ecological overshoot is what causes climate change, using more technology only makes climate change WORSE, not better. So, please take this into mind before promoting the very thing that has brought us to this point in time. One might as well promote arsenic as a health aid... &

  Farm near Douthat State Park, Virginia

  Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia

People enjoying the swimming hole at Bell Smith Springs Recreational Area

  Dale Hollow Reservoir, Tennessee

  Eagle Rock Train Station, Eagle Rock, Virginia

  Playhouse (for the landowners' grandchildren) in Jonesboro, Illinois Four of my articles over the past couple of years are part of a four-part series titled, " So, What Should We Do? " The first three articles were written, one after the other, back in 2021 after I discovered our lack of free will which condemns us to make choices based upon our biological (see the Maximum Power Principle ) and cultural conditioning (see this article ). This led me to realize that we truly lack agency to be able to control hyperobjects such as nature, climate change, ecological overshoot , the biosphere, etc. Not only is the predicament of overshoot too difficult for most people to grasp, many people unfortunately place it in the category of problems (with answers or solutions) rather than predicaments (with outcomes). Attempting to reduce issues seen as problems tends to turn those issues into bigger problems and/or predicaments. Often this is due to those working on these issues

  Bell Smith Springs Recreational Area

  Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Morehead City, North Carolina I have a list of posts coming which I am working on finishing, but I decided to insert one post dedicated to something I find highly frustrating and add some enlightening information about these topics, centered once again around so-called "solutions" which often don't really add up. So many people and organizations are offering educational "journeys" (also known as "manifestation mindsets" in some circles) into many different themes and in different ways in an effort to help people who are suffering with the grief, confusion, anxiety, or other troubles caused by the predicaments we face. While I applaud such efforts, the one thing that is annoying is how little attention is paid to "free" information, such as the information I provide here. How hard can it be for folks to give helpful advice without demanding money or payment of some sort (click the "like" button and s

  Artwork from Ken Avidor

  First picture: Morning, Hamilton Ranch (aka Carroll Ranch), Big Hole Valley, Montana Second picture: Beaverslide used for hay. Agriculture is what led into civilization. After quite an interesting last week, I have a better understanding of why so many people fall into the different "traps" and mindsets that we do. Rarely do we see the bars around us (known as wetiko or colonialism ) and as such, we often forget precisely which boundaries are real and set in stone (such as the fact that civilization is unsustainable ), which ones are real and temporary, and which ones are only illusory and imagined. This brings a new aura to the forefront; one which explains why it is so necessary to Live Now . Peter Russell points out one of the big issues surrounding modern humans, looking for external items we think we are missing  in our lives.   One of my friends, Simon Michaux, just came out with a new video  describing precisely where we are with regards to mining and extraction and

Once upon a time in a faraway land lived a man who published the darkest truths about the happy clappy narratives that so many people appear to want to hear. OK, that is just sarcasm, but who can blame them honestly? Actually, I used to enjoy hearing stories about how mankind is providing all kinds of solutions to the problems which befuddle us. Of course, this was before I realized that technology is an evolutionary cul-de-sac - a big, fat dead-end .  Since then, I have embarked on a journey of sorts, to discover why so many people drink the Kool-Aid  provided by industry and those who promote it. Partly a phenomenon of denial of reality and optimism bias , most people simply cannot handle the truth. That truth is contained in a quote from William Catton Jr.'s book Overshoot : " Homo sapiens has exploited too much. Human "success" entailed enclosure of an unprecedentedly large fraction of the total environment within the expanding boundaries of proliferating man-t